PERSONAL BRANDING: PUSH PAST THE FEAR

SCARED? TIPS ON HOW TO DO IT ANYWAY.

When you show up being who you are in your living room, you will attract the right people into your brand who literally become addicted to you.

— Teri Fode

Personal branding. To be most effective today, it requires that you put yourself out there.

In posts. On video platforms. On live platforms.

But you’re scared. I get it. So was I. I still am. You don’t believe me though. Do you know why? Because you see me out there, doing it anyway.

I do it scared. Allan Scott wrote a book called “Do It Scared”. I haven’t read it. But I’ve done it.

You can do it too.

Here are 5 tips to help you through to the other side of fear while learning to promote your personal brand.. PS: I’ll see you there. I’m waiting for you.

Today, the brands that are the most human, win.

— Teri Fode

THE 5 STEPS TO SELF-PROMOTING PAST THE FEAR.

01/Be clear on what you do + who you serve.

02/Express yourself instead of promote yourself.

03/Talk to one single person. You’re not trying to attract the entire world.

04/Don’t wait until you’re an expert! You’ve got knowledge. Share it.

05/Document instead of setting up the perfect day.

06/Bonus tip! Scroll Down.

01/ BE CLEAR ON WHAT YOU DO + WHO YOU SERVE.

This sounds obvious. But you’d be surprised how many people can’t answer this smoothly. Easily. Without flinching.

If you don’t know, at the very foundation, what problem you solve and who you solve it for, it creates a sense of “what am I even doing here, on this platform, and who am I even talking to?!”

It causes self-doubt. Insecurity. A sense of “talking to everyone in the world about who knows what”, which can be daunting.

Once you get that dialed in and you’re confident about what you offer, who you serve and what problem you solve for her, you can then start sharing other sides of your personality so the very people you are talking to can connect with you as the “person behind the brand”.

If you don’t have your brand message dialed in, or if you need to spend time clarifying this, I have a free Brand Workbook that will specifically get you from Point A to Point B.

Feel free to download it. It walks you through the process of coming up with your Brand Statement + Tagline for the very people you want to attract.

You have ideas. You have things you’re passionate about. You have things that excite you and truth be told, if you could, you would talk about that all day long.

When you are out there posting and sharing, quit thinking of it as “promoting yourself” and simply share your ideas and what you love.

When you know “who you serve and what problem you solve for them” as a business owner, it gives you the confidence to start sharing things that will help them.

Then, beyond that, you can start sharing “other things” outside of your business. Personal things that will draw them deeper into your brand.

This is the very essence of “personal branding” — because people want to connect with real people.

Brands today are being chosen because of “who they are, what the represent, and what they stand for”.

As a smaller brand, we have the ability to connect with people easily by simply turning on our phone and instantly bringing people into our lives!

Start expressing yourself, your ideas, your passions, your life.

Have a few topics that you want to start talking about outside of your brand. Things that are easy to share — because they’re happening in your life on the daily.

This will do two things: bond you tighter with those that are already doing business with you and also, attract people into your brand that might not otherwise have been interested until they connected with your personal brand!

My upcoming course walks you through exactly how to “Attract Your Ideal Customers by Promoting You”.

This is one of the biggest things that helped me relax and start sounding more natural on video and on camera.

Instead of imagining 50, or hundreds, or thousands out there, narrow it down to ONE SINGLE person.

Better yet, make it a real person. It should be a past, current or target customer! If you are a blogger, think of that one person you are writing to.

If you are a photographer, talk to your senior girl, her mama or your bride. If you’re a realtor, think of the ideal buyer you want to work with or the perfect seller you want to be hired by.

You get the idea. Now, when you’re out there on social media, sharing your day or telling the story, talk to that person and that person only.

04/ DON’T WAIT UNTIL YOU’RE AN EXPERT - BRING US ALONG THE JOURNEY

If you feel the pressure of being an expert in the space you’re in, worry no longer.

Today, you can connect with an audience so much faster by being authentic.

Instead of faking it or waiting until you’ve arrived, bring us along the journey with you!

Don’t wait to have 10,000 followers on IG to start sharing your knowledge. Share it now. Don’t wait to have high blog traffic to start writing. Share what you know with the world now. Don’t wait to reach your goals as an entrepreneur. Start infusing your messaging with your powerful words now.

You will attract so many more people by sharing where you are in the journey to becoming an expert than you ever would by “pretending” to know what you don’t.

There’s a time and place for having authority and social proof, but when you’re building a personal brand, you can accelerate your reach by simply “being true and being you”.

Your audience will love feeling a “part” of your success. Don’t wait. Get out there.

05/ DOCUMENT INSTEAD OF CREATING PERFECTION

Imagine having to “set up” your surroundings or perfect the way life looks or clean up your office or house every time you want to “go live” or post a story on IG.

It can be exhausting and not only that, it can prevent you from truly sharing your personal brand.

Instead of “creating perfection” before turning on the video cam or phone, simply bring us along for the ride.

Show us the imperfection. Share who you really are and the struggles you're really going through to get the kids to school and then do your entrepreneurial dream day.

Give us a peek inside your messy office instead of showing us the other side of perfect boss-ninja perfection.

Share a peek into your “getting ready” world if you are a fashion blogger.

Take us along for the ride prior to getting to your photo session — all of the messy prep stuff.

Never before in the history of marketing has there ever been the perfect opportunity to be authentic and then build a raving base of followers because of it.

People are craving real lives to connect with. Everyone is over perfection. Perfection is hard to strive for. But an authentic messy life that gets 3 things checked off of the to-do list plus a workout in too? Now that is something we can get behind because that is what real life looks like.

This should be a HUGE sigh of relief to you because you can cross perfection off of your list as to why you are scared to share yourself with the world as the face of your brand.

Good? Good.

06/ BONUS TIP

Don’t disregard “feeling your best” before creating photos for your brand or before you hop on an insta story. I’m not about to share my bed-head with the world. But see, that’s my personal brand boundary. It might not be yours.

In other words, you do you, friend. What makes you feel good about yourself? Do you, at the very least, need to wear mascara? Do you feel confident in your after-workout look? Are you better if you’re fully showered first?

Whatever it takes to get yourself “out there” as the face of your brand, do that.

But remember, perfection is not the goal. Authenticity and real, is.

Do what you must but remember this: we are living in an age where you will thrive most out there as a personal brand when you show up being exactly who you are in your living room with the people that know you best.

You get to draw the boundaries as to how much, when, where.

But bring the real you. Don’t get lost in the comparison game. Don’t look at “her” or “him” and try to duplicate that.

Because at the end of the day, YOU are what makes your brand different than any other similar brand out there.

Be bold. Show up. Do it scared.

ENTREPRENEURS!: Interested in creating your own Personal Branding Playbook that includes a 90-day plan and step-by-step marketing to attract the right people that become addicted to your brand? Get on the waitlist for my upcoming course all about how to make money promoting YOU!